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Breads Bakery: Another killer, bread-centric bakery opens downtown

Admittedly, Dessertbuzz may have been a bit late to the Breads Bakery party. After having a “special connection” with the breads and pastry at Bien Cuit’s new location in the West Village I just wasn’t in a rush to try another new bakery. This was an error in judgement. If I knew then what I know now–that Breads Bakery offers a number of category-leading products–I would have rushed the doors on opening day.

Clearly their signature product: Chocolate babka

Although they’ve been open less than two months, Breads already has a serious following for at least two of their products–and in this city, that’s saying something. And this is just the beginning. Co-owner (and native New Yorker), Gadi Peleg told me he has “tons” more products that they plan to sell. Specifically, he noted that as soon as the nearby Union Square farmer’s market starts carrying spring produce, Breads will offer all kinds of seasonal products.

Canele

Their product that’s received the most buzz is their chocolate babka–and for good reason, it’s really something special. After just one bite of this loaf, the richness of the high quality Belgian dark chocolate immediately sets it apart. They also weave Nutella into the dough and brush the outside with simple syrup to give a beautiful shine. Though I hate these kind of proclamations, whether on other people’s blogs or on my own, I’m going to have to say it: this is the best babka in the city right now. At $9.95 for an entire, fresh-baked loaf (they offer at least three bakings per day), this is what you should get on your first trip–you will not be sorry.

Large format loaves cooling

The second product that came highly recommended to me was their rugelach. This is a soft-style cookie, vs. the crisp-crust that a number of popular bakeries offer. The baked dough is very soft and fresh. And like the babka, the high-end dark chocolate really makes a difference. I could not stop eating these. Breads offers multiple bakings per day so that whatever time you visit, you’ll have an optimal “rugelach” experience. $1.50 each.

Some nice looking cookies

The pear tarts ($2.95 for a small and $22.95 for a large) are also excellent. The crust is buttery, crumbly and very flavorful. I really liked that the pear filling wasn’t too sweet . The layer of slivered almonds on top is a nice touch. Their baguettes are also top notch. After biting into one, my immediate thought was “the person who mades this has an advanced, black-belt knowledge of breads and crust. Too bad I didn’t have some fresh goat cheese handy.

Very, very good rugelach --maybe the best soft rugelach in the city?

Breads also sells canele, and in doing so, becomes only the 5th retail bakery in Manhattan to offer these delicious, specialty pastries. Given the lengths Breads seemed to go through to make every product as good as it could be, sparing no expense with dark chocolate and labor-intesnive multiple bakings, I was surprised to learn that they decided to use silicone molds instead of copper. Despite this techinical difference, the flavor and inner texture was every bit as good as the others, though there is less vanilla flavor. The texture on the outside is missing that signature canele crust that I believe only can come from beeswax and copper molds. One caveat: I visited at 1:00pm so these canele were not at the peak of freshness. I’ll return before 8:00 a.m. one day to give them a fair evaluation.

There are still a ton of products to try at Breads–I didn’t even get to try any of their breads! However, given what they have done in their first 50 days of business, this is clearly the start of a New York institution.

Breads Bakery is simply out of this world. Their almond croissants are superlative with almond paste slathered inside from one end to the other and sprinkled lavishly with sliced almonds. Balthazar Bakery should make a note of it as their almond croissants are dismal. The marzipan cookies at $2.50 are pricey but oh, so yum. The morning danishes featured in last week’s New York magazine are worth waking up early to sample. Living so near, there is a chance for me to get fatter and be penniless!

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